In the late 1830s, Rowland Thomas and Rachel Gilpin Robinson joined other Ferrisburgh Quakers in planning an academy that reflected their shared philosophy and values. The Robinsons donated land, local families contributed funds, and a small circle of trustees governed the school. Also called Brick Academy, it represented an arm of the Robinsons' religious perfectionism, with teachings anchored in the principle of nonresistance, a philosophy that shaped their antislavery work, parenting, and emphasis on practical and experiential learning. Constructed in 1839 as a two-story brick schoolhouse and community meeting space with large windows, a bell tower, and a commanding western view, the school welcomed children of all religious backgrounds, was racially integrated, and educated both boys and girls, while non-local students boarded with neighboring families. Among its students was Rowland Evans Robinson, the youngest child of Rowland and Rachel, who left formal schooling at age 13 with his parents' consent and later became a well-known writer and illustrator. The school operated only seven years before closing in 1846 for unknown reasons. Afterward, the Robinsons used the building for farm storage, including apples from the orchard. Ferrisburgh resident Ella Wamer Fisher, in her poem "The Voice of the Old Brick Academy," lamented the building's neglect and hoped it might serve as a memorial to Rowland Evans Robinson. In the early 1940s, nearly a century after the school closed, the badly deteriorated building was dismantled and its bricks were sold for reuse in constructing a building in Vergennes, Vermont.